Three people jailed for wrapping bacon around mosque door handles

Edinburgh
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Three people were given jail sentences after having defaced a Scottish mosque back in January 2013. According to sources, the group wrapped bacon around the door handles and threw some through the front doorway.

"I was surprised if a person did it for a joke. It is against our culture and religion. We do not eat pork or even touch it," said mosque security guard Usman Mahmood. "I felt very bad seeing this meat in my sacred place. It hurt my feelings when I saw this meat hanging inside the mosque in the worshipping area. It was very disturbing."

Chelsea Lambie, 18, and Douglas Cruikshank, 39, were each handed down a sentence of one year and nine months respectively.

Cruikshank pleaded guilty, but Lambie maintained her innocence, having to be found guilty by a jury.

She claimed she was with her boyfriend at the time of the attack, but CCTV footage from a nearby Co-op store showed her with two men buying a package of bacon, and other footage outside of the mosque showed the trio wrapping bacon around the doors, throwing some inside, and then running off.

According to Edinburgh police, text messages were found on Lambie's phone, first expressing her plans and later boasting of her deeds.

“Going to invade a mosque, because we can go where we want,” said one text. Then another read “went to the mosque in Edinburgh and wrapped bacon round the door handles, opened the door and threw it in ha ha ha.”

Furthermore, browsing data on Lambie's phone showed that shortly before the time of the vandalism, she had searched for the mosque's address as well as taxi stations.

The third person involved in the attack, Wayne Stilwell from Gorebridge, had already been sentenced back in August of last year to 10 months jail time after pleading guilty.

Prosecutor John Logue said he hoped the sentences would teach people a lesson about racist and bigoted behavior.

“The Muslim community are a valued and integral part of Scottish society and there is no place for such attacks in modern Scotland,” said Logue. "We will not let it be blighted by a narrow minded and hateful minority.